Chair, I would say to all members, next week go and knock on a hundred doors. Go listen to regular Canadians and hear first-hand how this policy is devastating Canada.
The motion here today is based upon a reliable news story that shows how our students are suffering. There is a 600% increase in food bank usage. What if that was your child? What if that was your family? What if that was your constituent? It is your constituent, guys. Everyone in this room is reflected in the numbers of food bank usage because of the policies of this Liberal government. From the article that this motion is based upon and the research that was conducted, 40% of all university students, not just Western University students, are experiencing food insecurity that requires assistance.
This government consistently takes away people's ability and opportunity to provide for their families and replaces that with the government, making more people reliant every day on the government to survive instead of opening up the opportunities for Canadians to achieve their true potential.
This is why the carbon tax is such a devastating policy and why on April 1, April Fool's Day, Canadians will be played like fools again. Once again, we're increasing the carbon tax by 23%.
I go back to our role as parliamentarians, which is, to the best of our abilities, to represent the views of Canadians—the Canadians we represent in our ridings who send us here to share their views, to the best of our abilities, and vote accordingly.
I challenge Liberal and NDP members. Next week, we're not sitting. There's a great opportunity. Your inboxes are full of emails. There are probably calls from people wanting to talk to you about how much pain they are in because of the policies of this government. It is a dangerous thing when governments stop listening, because citizens don't stop. It doesn't stop their pain and it doesn't stop them wanting you to hear how poorly this policy has affected Canadians' ability to provide for themselves—to feed, heat and house their families.
I hear the argument that there's this rebate, that the rebate makes up for all this extra tax. Chair, I would submit that for many Canadians, if not the vast majority, there's more month left than money left in their paycheque every month. It is getting worse and worse. I've heard first-hand from families that are having trouble with the carbon tax increases. It's also troubling for business operations in our ridings. More and more business owners have communicated to me how much of a difficult situation they are in because of the carbon tax. There are swaths of companies on the verge of bankruptcy. We're jacking up taxes by 23%. Wow. Where does this end?
One of the arguments around the carbon tax is that it's a few cents on the litre and it's not a big deal. Those people haven't paused and thought about all the inputs that go into everything that Canadians pay the carbon tax on and what we buy as consumers. I have an example. This is timely because earlier this week I was talking to a colleague from Quebec. I have a lot of respect for him. He made the comment that they don't pay the carbon tax. I said that they do. If you buy anything from across Canada, you're paying the carbon tax for those goods.
The example I shared was about a bottle of beer. As Canadians, we like to indulge in a beer from time to time. Hopefully, it's a beer brewed in Canada. Chances are that if it's brewed in Canada, Saskatchewan is in that bottle. If it's the barley that we grow out on the prairies, that producer, before he plants that crop, will pay for diesel in the shipping of that seed to the farm. During seeding, the diesel that inputs that crop is also hit with the carbon tax. Any inputs that are put onto that crop also get hit. Ultimately, in the harvest of barley out of Saskatchewan, you pay the carbon tax. If it's a wet year, you have to pay the carbon tax on the drying of said grains. You then have to transport that crop to a buyer. That all gets built into the costs for that producer.
For the most part, we sell our grains on the world market, where we can't charge a premium because they have a carbon tax on them. If it's cheaper for countries to get those inputs from the States or Brazil, they will, because they don't have the carbon tax.
Going back to that bottle of beer we were talking about being brewed for Canadians, the cost is also going up on April 1. Congratulations. It's going up. The price of beer is going up. Going back to that bushel of barley, before it gets shipped to that brewery, it will also pay a carbon tax. The brewery, if it's located outside of Quebec, will pay a carbon tax. Ultimately, it will be shipped to Quebec for my colleague to enjoy, and he believes he doesn't pay the carbon tax. I'm sorry, but he does.
We pay the carbon tax in so many ways in Canada. The only way we don't pay it is if we import that good—not from other parts of Canada, but from other parts of the world—which disadvantages our country. This is such a terrible policy for our economy, for our country and for our citizens.
I am very happy to support my colleague's motion, which I believe is timely and warranted in this climate.
Thank you, Chair.